


Two Princes

by StrawhatsAndDelibirds



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:01:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21924085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrawhatsAndDelibirds/pseuds/StrawhatsAndDelibirds
Summary: What if the position in Almyra was rough enough for Claude's dad to send them over the border for safety?
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd & Claude von Riegan
Comments: 1
Kudos: 21





	Two Princes

Tensions were high, and against the wishes of his mother, both he and his mother were sent back into her home country. It was disappointing. He wasn’t exactly sure why they were so worried about any of this. Mr. Nadir was unstoppable. 

The fact that they had to leave seemed a little ridiculous to him. The adults here looked at him the same way as they did back home, he wasn’t sure why he should expect any of them to act any differently here than they did at home. Especially since he was pretty sure that these were the same people that made them have to run. 

He had to wonder if his mother realized the same thing, because soon they were passing another border. Something about his great grandfather’s cousin’s side of the family. Or at least something as dumb as that. 

The carriage ride was boring. It wasn’t as if his mother had much information of this kingdom they were heading to, and the driver wasn’t interested in talking to him. If only there was more time before they left for him to read up on the place. It was a different situation from the Alliance to Almyra. There would’ve definitely have been books to read about this place. 

After a long and unnoteworthy trip, they arrived. He hopped out of the carriage and stretched his legs. He never had to go much of anywhere. Mr. Nadir was working on showing him how to fly wyverns, but even those didn’t last too long. Especially since he’d get yelled at for teaching him so they couldn’t go out for very long. 

The place felt so different. He never thought that buildings would look so much more different. Buildings seemed like the one thing that’d stay the same, but they were so much sharper looking than back where he lived. 

The need to explore was put on hold as his chance to wander off was put on hold by the looks he got. He wouldn’t be able to wander off too far with this many eyes on him. It was fine, he’d explore later when there was better lighting. He’d settle with getting the grand tour with his mom. He loved his mom and all, but having someone show you everywhere kinda took the fun and purpose out of exploring. 

But the grand tour would not be held tonight. He found that out quickly as some stuffy looking guard lead them into the rooms where they’d be staying. His room was right across from his mother’s. He wasn’t exactly sure how long their stay here was going to be, so he wasn’t going to bother unpacking what he brought. He’d go through as he needed. 

The bed was huge, and the room was bigger. It was probably for important guests. Ones with lots of luggage and things to keep in one place. They probably had lots of stuffy clothes and wigs that they carefully adjusted as they sipped their tea and chatted about rich people things. 

He couldn’t help but laugh. He couldn’t be farther from that image. Mostly cause he didn’t look like a million year old fossil and he dressed in clothes that were comfortable. He bet they never even road a wyvern. They probably couldn’t even ride a horse. It would spill their tea!

They had probably been sent to the bedrooms first because they were supposed to rest. It had been a long trip, and Claude was tired. But the stiffness in his legs and this unexplored world would keep him from sleep. Eight years of sleeping meant he knew that was a combination that was never going to work. 

He waited for a bit in his room. It felt like it had to have been twenty minutes. That felt like enough time for them to assume he had fallen asleep. In his professional experience, adults tended to underestimate you if you were younger than them. He found that that wasn’t always a bad thing, because it meant that you could sneak around a lot easier and catch a lot more people off guard. You just had to remember not to do it too often or else they’d stop underestimating you. 

Plus the guards and staff here weren’t used to him. They weren’t aware in the slightest the kind of guy he was. Before he headed out, he put his ear to the door. He was met by silence. That meant he was free to go. 

He’d still use the same caution he would’ve used back home. He wasn’t really familiar with the guards here. Maybe they were sneakier than the ones back home. Though judging from what he remembered when they hauled him off to this room, that was hardly the case. 

The hallway was dark. It wasn’t pitch black, but it was vaguely illuminated by candles along the wall. It was a shame, but also a little spooky. Kinda like where a scary story his mother would tell him. A pale spector roaming the halls to curse the living. Maybe it’d even have chains. 

But that was him just being silly. Ghosts weren’t real. They were tall tales adults told kids to keep them from running around at night. Or fun stories to tell your friends to scare them. 

His train of thought was cut short as he bumped into someone. That was his fault, he shouldn’t have been thinking about how funny it would be if he ran into a ghost and watched where he was going. It was probably some guard that was going to drag him back to his room.

But the person he looked at wasn’t much bigger than him. The key difference was that he seemed to glow in the faint candle light. 

“Ghost!” His mouth yelled before his brain could okay that. Now that it was out there, it was embarrassing.

“What?! Where?!” The kid frantically looked around. Dang it. There was definitely going to be guards coming to find them now. 

The best course of action right now would be a retreat and pretend none of this happened. The guards would be coming this way, so he was going to have to go back to his room. 

Fortunately for him, he didn’t get too far from his room. Adventuring didn’t always lead to fast walking. Rushing in, he was going to have to make a new plan of attack. This was all very dependent on whether or not his mom heard him. Because if she did, this was going to follow him back to Almyra and Mr. Nadir was never going to let him down. There’d be other people, but they weren’t nearly as cool as him. 

“Did we get away?” A voice he wasn’t expecting to hear chimed in. He didn’t account for the kid following him. Claude was kinda under the impression that he would’ve been left behind and have been the guards’ problem. 

“Uhhh, yep! We left that ghost in the dust for sure.” And the ghost was definitely not the kid. You couldn’t run into ghosts like that. It was kinda their thing. 

“Good, Mikalan said these halls were haunted. Sylvain said he was lying, but why would an older kid lie to us like that.” Claude knew none of those people, but he’d nod along. He was caught in a lie now, and he wasn’t about to have it untangle on him. He already knew this was going to bite him in the butt, but he was nothing if not committed. 

“My mom told my lots of stories about buildings like these. Lots of ghost stories.” Was this helping or hurting. It might make his time here easier. That was something he could work with for sure. 

“Now it makes sense that Glenn got mad at Mikalan. Cause Glenn wouldn’t want us to worry about them!” The kid seemed to be connecting dots of his own. Claude wasn’t gonna stop him. There were worst things to have happen to you than to be afraid of something that wasn’t real. Probably best for a kid this easily spooked to not be exploring around at night anyways. 

It wasn’t long before the guards found them and entered his room with candlesticks that lit up the entire room. His mom was there alongside them. She went over to his side and patted him down and sighed. 

“I heard you yell and I panicked.” That was fair. He didn’t yell like that a lot when he wasn’t in some sort of trouble. Especially after dark like this. 

“I was just on the way back from the bathroom when I was thinking about how this place was a lot like a haunted castle like from the stories you told me and I ran into someone and when I looked up I thought I saw a ghost past him.” That was a good enough lie if you asked him. He could tell that she wasn’t buying it. Joke’s on her, some of that was true.

“Oh! I didn’t know you were Lady Reigan’s son. I wasn’t supposed to meet you yet.” The kid sounded like he committed a heinous crime. 

“What were you doing up at this hour, your highness?” One of the guards asked, kneeling down to the kid’s level. It was weird to hear that and it not being about him.

Wait. This kid was also a prince?

“I couldn’t sleep, so I went on a walk. I didn’t expect to see a ghost. I didn’t mean to come down this way!” The kid seemed upset over his none trouble that he got into. He was starting to think it was a good thing that he made him worried about ghosts. He didn’t seem ready to go places unattended yet. 

“We’ll escort you back to your room, your highness.” The guard insisted, leading the kid out of the room.    
  
“I’ll see you in the morning!” The prince called back to them. He’d give him a little wave back as he disappeared into the night. Now without the candles, his room was significantly darker. That however did not save him from the look he could feel his mother giving him. It felt disapproving. 

“I know you want to explore, but wait until morning. It’s late, and we have things to do in the morning.” Her voice was stern. He had a feeling there was also a little leftover worry that turned to anger. This was the restrained version of it. He wasn’t about to test his luck against an adult who actually knew what they were doing. 

“Okay mom.”


End file.
